Last Breath
by DD Agent
Summary: It is time he dealt with Jim Keats, once and for all. Warning: Character Death. Gene/Alex A specualtion fic written after 3.06.


**Last Breath by DD Agent**

He tried to find them, but the corridors of Fenchurch East were too many. He was stressed, he couldn't focus. He was in a labyrinth of his own making and he couldn't find his way out. Then he heard it, the sound of screaming. He ran, not sure what he was going to find at the end of the corridor. He could see a small blood trail, and he rushed forward.

Light from the setting sun was streaming in through the windows, basking the corridor in red. How appropriate. He could see a prone body at the end of the corridor, and he recognised the shoes.

_Alex. _

There was a figure standing over her, Keats. His hands were outstretched, covering both sides of her face. She was screaming, he could see the blood covering her white shirt. She began to shake and scream more and Gene began to run. He couldn't let this happen, not to her. Not to her.

Her body stilled, and Gene felt his heart cave in. He rushed to her side and knelt by her body. She was covered in blood, a bullet wound right through her heart. Keats looked at him, taking his hands off of her face. He ran a finger down her cheek, before moving up to press them to his lips. He smiled.

"I'm sorry Gene, but it had to be done. No other way. I took her heart. And consequently, yours in the process."

He stood up and walked away, whistling a tune that he recognised as some Bowie crap. Gene watched as Keats gave him a smile on the corner as he turned the corridor. He looked back down at Alex, lying cold on the floor. He lifted her cheek, rested his hand underneath her head. He didn't know what to do, he couldn't bring her back, he couldn't. Keats had closed her eyes; she looked like she was sleeping. Oxygen was choking in his chest; he couldn't seem to breathe. He couldn't seem to say anything at all.

"I'm sorry Bols. I am so sorry."

He pressed his head to her, kissing her on the forehead. She still felt warm.

"I love you Alex. I love you."

Gene kissed her lips. This time she did not wake up just in time, there would be no awkward moment as they examined the tension between them. He reached for his gun and made sure there was a fresh round in it. He was going to end this with Keats once and for all. He wasn't going to lose anyone else, not to Keats. He had lost too much already. As he reached the end of the corridor, he turned back to look at Alex. No more.

He ran forward.

X

He had finally caught up with him in the CID offices, Keats by the door to his office, his name peeling. The air was tense, there were chairs pulled over and files spread all over the floor. Gene pulled his gun on Keats, but he just smiled, no fear in his eyes. He could hear movement behind him, and the click of a gun. There would be no last stand between the two of them, this was the final step in Keats' crusade him.

"Nice to know who you're behind, Chris."

Chris had a gun trained on Gene's back, but he would not get caught up in the emotion of the betrayal, he had a job to do. Ray and Shaz came rushing in, but Gene could see they were unarmed. Ray tried to go for Chris, but Shaz held him back, not wanting anyone to get hurt. Keats was just grinning, and he raised his hands to Gene.

"You've got me. You've pulled a gun on an officer that tried to challenge you, _again_. Sam Tyler. Alex Drake. Me. This ends now."

He heard the gun shake in Chris' hands. Gene realised he would have a very small time to shoot Keats before he got clipped by Chris - the poor bloke would never shoot him properly. He had to get this right, then maybe duck out of the way. He had to do this right; otherwise he knew that Ray and Shaz would be next.

"You're rotten, rotten to the core Gene. And now everyone realises it. You've led to the deaths of too many good officers."

Keats stayed where he was, waving his hands about and grinning like he didn't have a care in the world. He started whistling a little tune. He didn't waver, just continued looking straight at Gene. He knew he wouldn't be able to do it, not with everyone watching. There was loud scuffling to the back, and out of the corner of his eye he saw officers in full protective gear come in with their guns trained on him. Everyone was against him, there was no one left. Even Shaz and Ray looked confused about which side they should be on.

The man in front of him, the man behind the curtain, just smiled and put his hands down.

"This isn't your world anymore Gene, you need to get that. You need to have the rules explained to you, then maybe you can start understanding and playing well with everyone."

Keats felt air breeze around the back of him, and he believed it to be the gust of triumph, of the winds of destiny changing. It was only when he heard the click of a gun that he realised it wasn't.

"You get injured, fall into a world where the conscious and unconscious meld. This place, purgatory. You get killed here, you fulfil what you need and you still have something to live for, you get to go back. Back to the real world. But if you hurt yourself again, if you do something that removes the difference between dreaming and awake then you get to come back, pretty much intact."

Jim Keats turned around to face Alex Drake. Her hair in a short ponytail, not the bob she had been sporting. Her clothes not released or even designed for several decades. Her gun was modern, new, shiny.

"I think those are the rules, wouldn't you say Jim?"

She shot him in the head.

Keats body fell to the ground; there would be no chance to save him. As Alex put her gun down and looked at the figures around her, she smiled. Chris looked confused, and so did the officers behind Gene. Ray and Shaz moved round, telling them all to put their guns down. They all looked toward Alex for a moment, completely different from what they had seen of her earlier. Gene took one look at her, and grinned.

"You look different Bols. Done something to your hair?"

"Maybe it's the lack of blood that's confusing you Guv."

He put his gun in his holster, and looked towards Alex. He could still feel the warmth of her face against his hand, the life slowly going out of her. He could feel his lips against hers, slowly going blue. But here she was, alive. Alive and _real_. She smiled, one of the times he remembered her really smiling. She stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans, and grinned back at him.

"Always slow. Such a woman."

"And once again I've saved your skin. I really should start a tally."

He could hear Chris talking to Ray and Shaz behind him, but he didn't care. Gene moved forward, stepping over Keats' dead body and giving it a kick for good measure. She looked different. Not the Alex he remembered but the real one, the psycho whatsit with her daughter and the morals of a vicar but the sense of a gnat.

"You are such a pain in my arse Bols."

"True. Maybe I should just leave."

That forced him to shut up and do something. He walked over and kissed her, planted his mouth on hers as hard as he could. There were a few whistles from behind, but he didn't care. His hand caressed her cheek, his other going around to support her head, bring it closer to his. She groaned under his touch and that encouraged him to push harder on her mouth, forcing her to open to him. His tongue slipped inside, and as they struggled for dominance, Gene noted that she tasted like toothpaste. How long had it taken her to realise what to do? How long had it taken him to track down Keats? Had she brushed her teeth?

He broke the kiss and looked at Alex. She was still in her twenty first century gear, still smiling. "I hate you Bols. Really do. You're going to Fenchurch West, had enough of you."

She rested her hands around his neck, drawing him tighter. His hands reached around her waist, dragging her as close to him as humanly possible. He smiled at her, and she grinned back. She flicked him on the ear and moved to whisper in his ear.

"I love you too."

There were even more giggles from the back, and Gene looked over to see the other three in a little bit of shock, but smiling at the two of them quite happily. Keats was getting in the way, so Gene kicked him over by Shaz' desk a little more. They would have to sort out about him later, figure out what to tell the higher ups. But not right that minute.

"Alright then, how do you suggest we proceed Bolly?" Gene asked, looking towards her, his eyes gleaming.

"Luigi's for a drink."

Gene nodded. "Sounds good to me. Don't worry kids, Uncle Gene will explain all about Keats and his attempted murder on DI Drake on the way to the pub."

They filtered through the door, Chris the last one to leave. He nodded at Gene, who nodded back. They would have to deal with that too, sooner or later. He didn't blame Chris, not completely. He had always been trying to find a mentor, and had found the wrong one. Sighing to himself, he turned around to see Alex still looking over at Keats, kicking his dead body to make sure he was truly gone.

"Come on Bols, drinks await." He paused for a moment, unsure how to broach his next question. "How long are you staying?"

She kicked Keats again, this time harder and repeatedly. With a cry she kicked him one last time before turning away to crash into Gene. He held her, looking at Keats' very dead body. He knew exactly what Alex was going through. She pushed away from him, tears running down her face.

"Molly's gone. There's not a lot left for me anymore, not apart from here. If I stay, will I disappear like Sam? Just vanish?"

He didn't know how to answer her question. Gene thought back to his first meeting with Alex Drake, dressed like a hooker and making air quotations, so sure she knew what the hell was going on. He looked at her, moving her jacket apart to rest his hand against her heart. She closed her eyes, and he smiled faintly at her. "It's beating. It's incredible."

She opened her eyes, laughing. She moved forward and cupped his crotch, tight. He looked down at her, snarling. She smiled even more. "Now you lardy fascist, are you going to kiss me, or make me disappear?"

When Ray ran back to the CID offices to see what was taking the Guv so long, he groaned. He and Drake were going to take forever, kissing like that. Might as well go to Luigi's and get an explanation later. As he met up with the others, he was grinning. Took them long enough.


End file.
